University of Michigan unifies 19 schools under a culture of collaboration with G Suite for Education

Challenge

Michigan’s schools and colleges operated as autonomous academic units with multiple disparate technology systems that were not just redundant but incompatible with one another. The IT team at Michigan saw an opportunity to streamline its technology services and introduce a mail, calendar, and documents solution that allowed for improved collaboration.

"When G Suite for Education was introduced, there was a huge sigh of relief. Previously, it was very difficult for students and professors to keep their information synchronized. I have yet to come across a toolset that is as feature-rich as Google Apps."

Jeff Ringenberg, faculty member in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department

Solution

When Michigan initially looked into switching solutions, the IT team realized that 40 to 50 percent of email sent to the Michigan domain was forwarded to Gmail. After soliciting input from a large cross-section of faculty, students, and staff, Michigan decided in the fall of 2011 to adopt G Suite for Education across all schools (except the medical campus) for mail, calendar, and documents.

Organization Profile

Located in Ann Arbor and founded in 1817, the University of Michigan (known simply as “Michigan”) is the top public research institution in the country according to the 2014/15 QS World University Rankings®. Michigan offers 260 degree programs at 19 schools and colleges; educates more than 43,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students; and employs 6,800 faculty members. With an emphasis on student diversity, Michigan is known for providing “an uncommon education for the common man.”